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Memphis 3.0 Gets OK From City Council

The Memphis 3.0 Comprehensive plan was approved by the Memphis City Council Tuesday, after months of delay.

After much debate, the council passed the 3.0 ordinance 7-6 on the third and final reading at the body’s next-to-last meeting of 2019.

Council members Joe Brown, Cheyenne Johnson, Jamita Swearengen, Worth Morgan, Martavious Jones, and Berlin Boyd voted against the plan.

Voting in favor were J. Ford Canale, Frank Colvett Jr., Gerre Currie, Kemp Conrad, Reid Hedgepeth, Patrice Robinson, and Sherman Greer.

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Before the vote, Boyd moved to delay the issue for two weeks, but that motion failed. Boyd called for the delay to seek legal counsel from council attorney Allan Wade, who was absent from Tuesday’s meeting.

Boyd said based on the Tennessee Code Annotated, the council is not required to adopt the plan in order for it to move forward since the Memphis and Shelby County Land Use Control Board has already approved it.

Doug McGowen, chief operating officer for the city, confirmed that the council isn’t statutorily required to approve the plan.

Boyd, along with Jones, who also wanted to delay the vote, wanted clarity about the measure from Wade. Jones raised concerns about the way the Memphis 3.0 plan was presented to the council: “The way it [Memphis 3.0] has been presented to us, I felt — and I don’t know how many of my colleagues share this — that we had to approve this.” Before last week, Jones said the council was under the impression that “we had to vote it up or down.”

McGowen responded, saying “there was no intent to make anybody believe they had to do anything.”

“The administration has presented this plan in full transparency that we would like the council to approve it,” McGowen said. “We have never said you were under statutory obligation to do so.”

Greer, who leaves his District 1 post at the end of the year, urged the council to move forward with the vote, opposing any more delays.

“We can ask questions for the next 30 years,” Greer said. “It’s time to vote. This doesn’t have one dollar that’s tied to it that has to be spent in one area or another. It’s a plan. Plans change. We’ve said many times that seven votes can move anything.”

The council first delayed the plan in March after a group of residents from the New Chicago area voiced opposition.

In May, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland signed an executive order implementing Memphis 3.0 on the administrative side.


The council has delayed the vote on Memphis 3.0 several times since March. The council first delayed the vote on the city’s comprehensive plan after a group of residents from the New Chicago area voiced opposition to the plan, citing a lack of inclusion.

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Since then, delays have been attributed to the council needing more information about the plan and its implications. The council took the first of three votes on the ordinance at its July 2nd meeting.

The plan drew little opposition on Tuesday from members of the public. Lynette Williams, president of the Aklena Lakeview Garden Community Development Corporation, was the sole voice of opposition. Williams said that she and other residents in the Lakeview Garden community, located in the southeastern corner of the city, do not support the plan because “it doesn’t include us or District 6.”

“We want the residents to be respected and represented in the outer parts of Memphis, Tennessee, where you have a lot of homeowners and taxpayers,” Williams said. “We want unique improvements in our neighborhoods, we want community investments.”

Councilwoman Patrice Robinson, who voted in favor of Memphis 3.0, said even if amended down the road, the plan gives the city a “road map and a start” to move forward. Robinson also said that once in place, the plan can be further developed to include specific communities.

“We do a disservice to our city as a body if we don’t have a road map to where we’re going,” Robinson said. “Now a plan is not going to include everybody’s street, every community, and this particular plan only talked about the anchors in our community. We can expand upon that. Plans can be changed. Budgets can be created. We control the process right here”

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Boyd said he agrees “a plan is definitely needed,” but certain core issues in communities, such as blight, should also be addressed.

“When you look at certain streets in North Memphis where there are about 15 blighted properties on one street and we can’t even demo those houses, but yet we’re going through and trying to develop a plan for the community,” Boyd said. “We have to figure out how to get back to the basics in figuring out how to stabilize some communities.”


Councilman Worth Morgan wanted to know what would actually change if the plan is approved. In short, John Zennah, director of the city’s division of planning and development said moving forward all land-use decisions made by the city council would have to be consistent with the criteria of the 3.0 plan and that that finding should be reflected in land-use resolutions that the council approves.

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City Planners Host Public Meetings on 3.0 Plan


There are six public meetings coming up for residents to meet with city planners and learn about how the Comprehensive Memphis 3.0 plan will affect their neighborhood.

The times and locations for the meetings are listed below. 


After delaying the vote on Memphis 3.0 several times since March, the Memphis City Council voted last week to hire a consultant to assess the financial impact the plan could have. The consultant has until mid-September to present their findings to the council. That’s when the council will take the second of three votes on the 3.0 ordinance.

In May, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland signed an executive order to ensure Memphis 3.0 would guide all city decisions on the administrative side, excluding land use. The council still has to approve the plan before it can impact land use.

The 3.0 plan is meant to be a guiding document for investments and development in the city over the next 20 years. The plan identifies citywide and community “anchors,” walkable mixed-use activity hubs, as places with the greatest opportunity for growth and improvement. The plan also identifies the degree of change needed for each anchor. This means the anchor will either be nurtured, accelerated or sustained.

Acceleration anchors signify a greater degree of change is necessary for the area. These changes will rely on a mix of private and philanthropic resources, as well as some public resources, according to the document.

Here’s a quick look at what the key acceleration anchors and recommendations are for each council district in the city. To figure out which district you reside in, visit this site.

District 1

O.T. Marshall Architects

Rendering of library at new Raleigh Town Center

Raleigh makes up most of District 1. The anchor chosen for acceleration is the former Raleigh Springs Mall and surrounding neighborhood. In 2018, construction of the Raleigh Town Center at the site of the old mall began. The town center will feature a walking trail, green space, and skate park, as well as a new library and police precinct. Memphis 3.0 recommends that the 30 acres of the site not included in the project be developed in the future. The plan specifically suggests the following for the area:

• Incentivizing small and minority-owned businesses to locate to the area

• Incentivizing facade and landscaping improvements to the surrounding commercial shopping centers

• Developing mixed-use infill to make the area more dense and reduce the number of vacant properties

• Further development of the remaining 30 acres of the former Raleigh Springs Mall

• Installing traffic-calming measures along Austin Peay

• Increasing the frequency of buses along Frayser-Raleigh Road and Austin Peay to every 30 minutes

District 2

District 2 contains the eastern-most edge of the city. The key anchor there pegged for acceleration is the intersection of Ridgeway and Winchester. The priorities in this district include reducing blight through adaptive reuses of vacant properties, increasing connectivity, and improving pedestrian safety. Specific recommendations for the anchor area include:

• Incentivizing mixed-use development near the Hickory Ridge Mall that includes cultural amenities

• Conducting a Winchester Corridor Study to take advantage of the economic viability of the area

• Identifying improvements to underutilized public land

• Increasing the frequency of incoming buses on the portion of Winchester within the district to every 30 minutes

District 3

The southeast corner of Memphis makes up District 3. The anchor chosen for acceleration there is the intersection of Mendenhall and Winchester. The plan suggests supporting local business associations, art venues, and cultural organizations. Other priorities include increasing the number of high-quality housing options near anchors, safety improvements, and reducing blight. Here the plan specifically suggests the following:

• Increasing the frequency of incoming buses on the portion of Winchester within the district to every 30 minutes

• Incentivizing mixed-use development that includes cultural amenities

• Facade improvements, such as installing street furniture, trees, and public art

• Increasing density

• Conducting a Winchester Corridor Study to take advantage of the economic viability of the area

• Creating green infrastructure in underutilized parking facilities, such as planting trees and flowers

District 4

City of Memphis

Current view of the intersection of Lamar and Airways, a District 4 anchor

In District 4, which sits near the middle of the city and comprises Orange Mound, Castalia Heights, and parts of Cooper-Young, the acceleration anchor is the intersection of Lamar and Airways. Some of the priorities for the district include improving pedestrian safety with traffic calming infrastructure, engaging community groups to initiate change, creating affordable commercial rent, and promoting the history of the Orange Mound neighborhood. The specific recommendations for the anchor neighborhood include:

• Encouraging mixed-use, mixed-income development at Lamar and Airways

• Implementing tools to support affordable housing

• Increasing cultural identity around the anchors with public art and programming in public spaces

• Creating attractive connections between neighborhoods

• Increasing the frequency of incoming buses to every 15 minutes along Lamar and every 30 minutes along Park and Kimball

District 5

District 5 covers much of the Poplar corridor and surrounding areas. One of the anchors chosen for acceleration here is the intersection of Poplar and Truse. The goals are to support neighborhood redevelopment and encourage private market activity, support local minority and women-owned business, and to create affordable housing options. Specially, the plan suggests the following:

• Assessing parking and potentially consolidating parking

• Increasing the cultural identity around the district’s anchors

• Installing public art and implementing public programming

• Improving the streetscape with trees, lighting, and pedestrian amenities

• Implementing a 15- or 20-minute interval bus line for Poplar

District 6

Self + Tucker Architects

Rendering of traffic calming configurations, public art, and public right-of-way beautification

The southwestern corner of the city makes up District 6 and is comprised of portions of South Memphis, Westwood, and Whitehaven. One of the anchors targeted for acceleration is the intersection of Neptune and Walker. Priorities include identifying financial resources for housing and home repairs, blight removal, and increasing transportation options. The specific recommendations for the anchor area include:

• Supporting multi-modal transportation options

• Encouraging housing development for diverse income levels

• Establishing partnerships with local institutions and small developers for infill projects

• Increasing the frequency of incoming buses to every 30 minutes along Mississippi Boulevard

District 7

District 7 is made up mostly of the Frayser neighborhood in North Memphis and the northern portion of Downtown. One of the anchors set to be accelerated is the intersection of Frayser Boulevard and Overton Crossing.

Some of the priorities for this area are promoting pedestrian-oriented infill, creating mixed-use development, installing traffic-calming measures, such as bike lanes and landscaped medians, and addressing the abundance of blighted, vacant properties. Specially, the plan suggests the following:

• Integrating green spaces in commercial lots to provide pedestrian refuges

• Supporting affordable housing

• Developing neighborhood gateways

• Installing public art and implementing public programming

• Increasing the frequency of incoming buses on Frayser Boulevard and University Street to every 30 minutes

Self + Tucker Architects

Proposed infrastructure improvements near the Frayser Plaza

District 8

Super District 8 is made up of Districts 6 and 7, as well as the majority of Districts 3 and 4. The key anchors for acceleration identified here are Lamar and Airways within District 4. Recommendations for the entire super district include housing rehab in areas such as New Chicago and Soulsville, infill development at Raines and Elvis Presley, and promoting pop-up shops and other commercial activity near Danny Thomas and A.W. Willis. Specific recommendations include:

• Addressing motorist and pedestrian safety hazards at the Lamar/Kimball/Pendleton intersections

• Increasing the frequency of incoming buses along Lamar, East Parkway, and North Watkins to every 15 minutes

District 9

Super District 9 comprises Districts 1, 2, and 5, as well as a small portion of Districts 3 and 4. The key anchor here for acceleration is the intersection of Park and Getwell. Some of the priorities for the super district include encouraging community events at Audubon Park, connecting public spaces to anchors, and promoting walkability. Specially, the plan suggest the following:

• Increasing the frequency of incoming buses on Getwell to every 30 minutes

• Redeveloping key economic corridors to support business development

• Incentivizing mixed-income development

• Improving multimodal infrastructure to employment centers and high-volume bus stops



Learn more about the Memphis 3.0 Plan here. 

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City Council Could Spend $15K on Memphis 3.0 Consultant


The Memphis City Council could pay a consultant $15,000 to assess the financial impact of the Memphis 3.0 Comprehensive plan.

A council committee voted 4-1 on Tuesday morning in favor of the move, recommending its approval to the full council.

Councilwoman Cheyenne Johnson, who is proposing the study, said she believes Memphis 3.0 is a good plan, but that residents don’t fully understand it. Johnson said she’s received a number of phone calls from constituents who want to know exactly how Memphis 3.0 would affect their neighborhood, as well as what the financial impact will be on underserved communities, especially ones of color.

The $15,000 would come from the city’s legislative division budget.

Councilwoman Patrice Robinson said she supports the study: “It wouldn’t do any hurt or harm for council to have another eye, another look, and a further explanation.”

Robinson said the consultant will review the strengths and weaknesses of the plan, and determine any opportunities or threats that could arise because of it.

Councilman Worth Morgan abstained from voting, saying that the financial impact of the plan will likely be hard to determine. He also added that he doesn’t want to support hiring a consultant until the council knows exactly what additional information the consultant will produce.

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Morgan said $15,000 isn’t a “great amount for a study,” but he is unsure if “the value of the information will match the $15,000 price tag.”

Councilman Sherman Greer cast the only no vote, saying that Memphis 3.0 “isn’t the Bible,” and that it can be amended even after the council approves it. He also questioned what information the consultant would reveal that the council doesn’t already know.

The full council is scheduled to vote on the resolution at its meeting Tuesday (today) at 3:30 p.m. If approved, the selected consultant will have until September 17th to present its findings. That would mean the third and final vote on the ordinance that would implement the plan would be pushed back until mid-September as well.

Maya Smith

Carnita Atwater protests the Memphis 3.0 plan

The council was slated to take the second vote on the ordinance Tuesday, but that vote could be delayed as well.

In May, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland signed an executive order to ensure Memphis 3.0 would guide all city decisions on the administrative side excluding land use. The council still has to approve the plan before it can impact land use.

The council has delayed the vote on Memphis 3.0 several times since March. The council first delayed the vote on the city’s comprehensive plan after a group of residents from the New Chicago area voiced opposition to the plan, citing a lack of inclusion.

Since then, delays have been attributed to the council needing more information about the plan and its implications. The council took the first of three votes on the ordinance at its July 2nd meeting.

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Strickland Adopts Memphis 3.0, Hopeful Council Will Follow Suit

CREDIT: Maya Smith

Maya Smith

Mayor Strickland signs an executive order adopting the Memphis 3.0 plan


After much delay and despite opposition, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland signed an executive order Tuesday adopting the Memphis 3.0 Comprehensive plan.

The Memphis City Council has delayed approving the plan for weeks, as opposition rose from one North Memphis neighborhood group.That group, led by Carnita Atwater, president of the New Chicago Community Development Corporation, filed a lawsuit last week, delaying the council’s vote again.

The lawsuit claims that the plan violates some residents’ constitutional rights and that it’s not inclusive. Strickland said Tuesday that he does not know if the city has submitted a response to the lawsuit.


Despite the pending litigation, Strickland moved forward with adopting the plan Tuesday morning, signing the executive order at The Works Community Development Corp. headquarters in South Memphis. He said that the adoption of Memphis 3.0 is “way past due,” as the city has not had a comprehensive plan in nearly 40 years.

“Memphis 3.0 will provide a much-needed road map for our growth,” Strickland said. “As we have seen for far too long, growth without a plan creates urban sprawl, a lack of cohesive land use, and puts tremendous strain on limited infrastructure. With this plan, we will move forward with a collective voice on how we want our city to look years into the future.”

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Strickland said Tuesday’s move “cements that Memphis 3.0 will be used in every agency and every division of government” except land use. The Memphis City Council must approve the plan in order for it to impact land use.

“This order doesn’t override the council’s authority,” Strickland said. “This order only applies to the administration side. The council still controls land use and we ask them to approve it.”

The mayor said he anticipates the city council approving the plan.

“The economic renaissance that we see in Memphis in many neighborhoods is not being felt in every neighborhood,” Strickland said. “This plan is a roadmap for growth and investment in all neighborhoods throughout the city and that’s why it needs to be celebrated.

Roshun Austin, executive director of The Works, contributed to the plan and supports its adoption. She sat next to the mayor as he signed the order.

“We have not had a comprehensive plan since 1981,” Austin said. “What that speaks to is a continuation of four decades of urban sprawl and white flight. I understand the experiences of many people that are opposed to the adoption of the plan.

Maya Smith

Carnita Atwater protests the Memphis 3.0 plan

“There’s truth to that. There is federal policy and local policy that has devastated African-American communities … This is not that. The comprehensive plan helps to guide our future in Memphis and make real investments back into very distressed neighborhoods.”

Meanwhile, outside of the building Atwater and about five other protesters rallied against the plan, holding signs that read “Just say no to 3.0” and shouting “No justice, no peace.”

“No matter what he signed today, you still have a $10 billion lawsuit,” Atwater said. “The lawsuit isn’t going anywhere.”

When asked what he thought about the protesters outside, Strickland said he’s glad “they are exercising their right to protest.”

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Mayor Strickland to Implement 3.0 Plan by Executive Order

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland will implement his much-delayed Memphis 3.0 plan Tuesday morning by executive order, according to a statement from his office Monday evening.

Strickland began working on the plan soon after taking office. That work included gathering opinions and priorities about the city’s future from thousands from across the city at dozens of events. The plan is to serve as a long-range planning document for the city.

Implementing the plan ran into delays, however, as Memphis City Council members mulled the plan for weeks. The council delayed yet another vote on 3.0 last week after a new lawsuit was filed by a group that argues the plan does not do enough for African-American neighborhoods. (See our story links below for more details.)

In a news advisory issued Monday evening, Strickland announced he will implement the plan via executive order Tuesday morning at 9 a.m.

Here’s what Strickland’s office said about the move:  

“Over the course of two years, at hundreds of community meetings and events more than 15,000 Memphians let their voices be heard in the process of creating a long-range development plan for our city.

“After much thought and deliberation, Mayor Strickland will sign an executive order implementing Memphis 3.0.”

The signing event is planned for Tuesday, May 14th, 9 a.m.; The Works, Inc. (1471 Genesis Circle).

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Memphis 3.0 Includes Items Opponents Say It Lacks

CREDIT: Facebook- Carnita Atwater

Facebook- Carnita Atwater

Atwater speaks against the Memphis 3.0 plan at a rally Saturday

A lawsuit filed by members of the community caused the Memphis City Council on Tuesday to again delay voting on the Memphis 3.0 plan.

Carnita Atwater, president of the New Chicago Community Development Corporation, told the council that they were being “disrespectful to the African-American community because the 3.0 plan is “blatant racism.”

Atwater and about a half a dozen more attendees at Tuesday’s meeting spoke in opposition of the plan, saying that it was not inclusive.

In a Wednesday press release, Atwater, who is African American said that the lawsuit was filed on behalf of the “impoverished African-American communities that have endured decades of disinvestment.”

“The Memphis 3.0 Comprehensive Plan fails to include any relevant or substantive financial investment in beleaguered African American Communities,” Atwater said. “The benefits of the plan are not inclusive, nor does it address racial equity in a city experiencing selective disinvestment, targeted gentrification, and low-income displacement.”

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The lawsuit was filed in federal court Tuesday against the council, the Shelby County Commission, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, and Gov. Bill Lee. The move is meant to stop the city council from voting on the plan.

Atwater’s key argument is that the Memphis 3.0 does not include plans for the New Chicago neighborhood and other African-American communities in the city.

However, the 465-page document does detail improvements for New Chicago, the surrounding North Memphis neighborhood, and other predominantly African-American areas in the city.

Within New Chicago itself, the plan outlines two anchors to be nurtured. The document says nurturing means providing stability to areas not experiencing growth.

Atwater has said that the plan does not give funding to the most “dis-invested in neighborhood in the city.”

But, based on the 3.0 document, anchors to be nurtured will see investments by the city and philanthropies to support improvements.

The first anchor is the intersection of Chelsea and Ayers, where the document suggests creating a garden district with the vacant land there and conducting an urban farming feasibility study.

At the intersection of Breedlove and Firestone, just a half a mile away from the New Chicago CDC headquarters, the plan lists 11 action items.

Some of them include improving the aesthetics of the area, supporting small businesses and community-based organizations and initiatives, identifying funding sources for facade improvements, and conducting an environmental assessment.

Near New Chicago, the crossing of Watkins and Brown is another anchor where the plan looks to support affordable housing, create adaptive reuses for abandoned buildings, and identify alternate uses for vacant land such as urban agriculture and parks.

The other anchors in North Memphis include Jackson and Watkins, Chelsea and Hollywood, Jackson and Hastings, and the Douglass Park Area.

Finally, for the entire North Memphis district, the plan indicates a slew of issues that need to be addressed, such as the need for a full-service grocery store or other ways to access fresh foods, improved sidewalks, additional bike lanes, and other infrastructure improvements.

In South Memphis, another area of the city largely populated with African Americans, the plan lists six anchors to be nurtured and two to be accelerated, or boost existing changes in the community.

Those anchors include Mississippi and Walker, Third and Belz, Elvis Presley and Alcy, and Soulsville.

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Actions for this district touch on affordable housing, neighborhood beautification, as well as improved public parks, sidewalks, and accessibility. Like North Memphis, accessible fresh foods is also a priority in the plan.

Read the priorities for each district here beginning on page 243. 

Atwater also expressed concern Tuesday about how the plan will gentrify African-American communities, while displacing communities of color and “forcing them out of the city of Memphis.”

Beverly Clay, who is African American, is another opponent of the plan. She said Tuesday that the 3.0 plan has “obvious omissions of our areas” and that it is “inexcusable.”

Supporting the plan Tuesday, Roshun Austin, president of The Works CDC in South Memphis, said the plan is a “map and a guide, because it provides us with what’s here today and suggestions for a brighter future. “

“It does not dictate the route we will take to get to our destination,” Austin said. “It does not detail all of the opportunities or encumbrances.”

Gary Rosenfeld, president and CEO of the Memphis Area Transit Authority, also spoke in support of the plan Tuesday, saying that the plan has “already demonstrated its ability to have a positive effect on our community.”

Ultimately, the council decided to delay the first of the three votes on the plan for two weeks to allow the council attorney Allan Wade and city of Memphis attorney Bruce McMullen to review the lawsuit.


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Council Again Delays Vote on 3.0 Plan

The Memphis City Council again delayed the first of three votes on the Memphis 3.0

plan 

— this time for 30 days.

The council first delayed the vote on the city’s comprehensive plan at its March 19th meeting after a group of residents from the New Chicago area voiced opposition.

Carnita Atwater, president of the New Chicago Community Partnership Revitalization community development corporation, does not support the plan, saying last week that “it’s very clear it’s not inclusive.”


Atwater said the plan does not detail specific improvements in the New Chicago neighborhood.

Facebook- Carnita Atwater

New Chicago Resident speaks against the Memphis 3.0 plan at a rally Saturday

Residents of the New Chicago area gathered for the “STOP THE GENTRIFICATION 901 MARCH” on Saturday to protest the 3.0 plan. (The march turned into a rally as organizers failed to get the proper permits in time.)

On Tuesday, the Memphis City Council again delayed the first of three votes on the Memphis 3.0 plan. It is not clear whether the protest led to the council’s decision to delay the first of three votes on an ordinance that would approve the plan. The council is now slated to vote on the plan at the council’s May 7th meeting.

Council Chair Kemp Conrad said the delay will allow for additional input from citizens. 

Councilman Worth Morgan said the council has to be careful before voting on a document with such weight.

“The 3.0 plan is 300-plus pages and 509 action items,” Morgan said. “It took over two years to complete. Before we cast any votes, I think everyone is being very careful to know precisely what the implications are.”

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The Memphis 3.0 plan, drafted with input from city officials, local nonprofits, community partners, and residents, is a comprehensive guide for future development and investments in the city, officials have said.

The idea is to improve and invest in the city’s core and surrounding neighborhoods in order to create dense, walkable, connected communities, according to the document.

To do this, it details specific strategies for nurturing, accelerating, or sustaining certain neighborhoods within the city’s 14 planning districts.

If adopted, the Memphis 3.0 plan will guide future policies, investments, and partnerships made by the city over the next 20 years.

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Community Group Plans March in Protest of Memphis 3.0

A community group in one North Memphis neighborhood has plans to protest on Saturday in opposition of the Memphis 3.0 plan.

The New Chicago Community Partnership Revitalization community development corporation said Thursday that the action, dubbed the “Stop Gentrification 901 March,” is meant to dissuade the Memphis City Council from passing the ordinance approving the comprehensive plan.

“African-American communities in Memphis will march against approval of Memphis 3.0 because we need capital investments, affordable housing, tax incentives, and jobs; not bike lanes and housing that prices us out of our neighborhoods,” the group said in an email.

In a Wednesday Facebook post, Carnita Atwater, president of the New Chicago CDC encouraged attendance of Saturday’s protest: “This opposition against the Memphis 3.0 Plan is too important to sit at home and just talk about it. React as if your life depends on it…and IT DOES if you want to stay in the city of Memphis!

Atwater also said the group is planning a march “in every black neighborhood across this low-down, disrespectful city until justice is served in this city. WE WILL NOT BE QUIET AND WE WILL CERTAINLY will pull the rug from over these low-down city leaders that think that black lives do not matter.”

[pullquote-2] The march is slated for Saturday, March 30th at 9:00 a.m. beginning at the New Chicago CDC headquarters on Firestone. 

Last week more than two dozen New Chicago residents attended the city council meeting to oppose the council’s passing of the plan. As a result, the council delayed the vote until its April 2nd meeting.

Atwater also said last week that she would be filing a $10 billion lawsuit against the city because the plan was not inclusive to North Memphis.

Atwater said Thursday that she is still in the process of filing that lawsuit, as “that’s the only thing that will stop these people.”

“The basis for the suit is racial disparity,” Atwater said. “It’s very clear it’s not inclusive. Why would you pass a plan and there’s no specific details for what they will do for African-American communities that look like war zones. It’s not a black thing or a white thing, but a human rights thing.”

But, Ursula Madden, chief communications officer for the city, said that Atwater “has been a part of the conversation” and that “the city has met with her on numerous occasions.”

[pullquote-1] “It’s unfortunate that Ms. Atwater feels this way,” Madden said in a statement. “Over the last two years, over 15,000 Memphians took the opportunity to share their ideas, any concerns and actively participated in the planning process for Memphis 3.0.

“The New Chicago neighborhood is one of many anchors in our plan and the New Chicago Community Partnership Revitalization CDC is listed as one of our community planning partners based on this group’s input in the plan.”

The Memphis 3.0 plan, which has been in the works for the past three years, is a comprehensive guide for future development and investments in the city, officials have said.

The plan details specific strategies for nurturing, accelerating, or sustaining certain neighborhoods within the city’s 14 planning districts.

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Council Recap: Memphis 3.0, Pre-K, & Cannabis

Some Memphis City Council members raised questions Tuesday about the Memphis 3.0 plan, a comprehensive plan that will guide the city’s investments and developments for the next 20 years.

City officials presented the plan to a council committee Tuesday ahead of the first of three votes on an ordinance approving the plan in two weeks.

Councilwoman Cheyenne Johnson said she was “impressed” with the plan, but still had several lingering questions.

“What’s in here that might not be fully disclosed because of how people might interpret what’s actually written?” Johnson asked.

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Johnson also inquired about the 15,000 Memphis residents said to have participated in creating the 3.0 plan.

“Who were those 15,000 individuals?” she said. “How many of those were developers or builders? What are the classifications of the 15,000 which still represents less than 3 percent of the population?

”Do you think this is an adequate number to set out a plan that will be in place for the next 20 years?”

Ashley Cash, Memphis’ comprehensive planning administrator, said the city “made every effort” to have broad participation from the public, which meant developers, stakeholders, and residents were involved.

Johnson also wanted to know if the plan will guide equitable investments in the city and if the efforts will be balanced across all Memphis neighborhoods.

John Zeenah, who heads the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development said the anchors, or places identified in the plan for further development, are “evenly distributed” around the city.

Councilman Reid Hedgepeth expressed concerns about the unintentional consequences the plan could have.

“There’s a lot of things that I have heard from developers, from builders, and from people saying, ‘Wait, I’ve got to do what?’” Hedgepeth said. “These are things that I didn’t know. How can you assure us when we approve these 400 pages it’s not going to be similar to the UDC (Unified Development Code) and we had unintended consequences when we approved it.”

Josh Whitehead with the city/county Office of Planning and Development told Hedgepeth that the plan will be updated and amended frequently to keep it “relevant.”

Council members also asked for the “big bullet points” from the 400-page document, highlighting how things will change once the plan takes effect.

The council will take its first of three votes on an ordinance to adopt the plan in two weeks.

Memphis 3.0 planning meeting


The council also passed an ordinance that enables the city and county to appoint a fiscal agent to manage its pre-K fund.

This move comes as an $8 million grant that funds 1,000 pre-K seats in the county is set to run out in June. Now, the city and county are on track to fund those 1,000 seats plus an additional 1,000 beginning this fall.

The city/county joint ordinance paves the way for a fiscal agent to be appointed. The agent would be responsible for managing the fund, bringing in private dollars, and creating a high-quality pre-K program.

The Shelby County Commission will vote on a similar ordinance at its March 25th meeting.


The council also approved a resolution supporting three cannabis-related bills introduced by Tennessee lawmakers. The bills deal with decriminalization of certain amounts, medical marijuana, and taxation of cannabis.

The resolution, sponsored by council members Berlin Boyd and Martavius Jones, passed with a 5-4 vote.

Councilman J. Ford Canale, one of the members voting no, said he supports legalizing medical marijuana, but not decriminalization of the drug for other uses.

Boyd said that decriminalizing small amounts of cannabis would help the number of Memphians who have felony charges because of marijuana possession.


A vote to impose a plastic bag surcharge at certain retail stores was delayed until May, as state legislators are working on a bill to prohibit local governments from putting those types of fees in place.

The fee is meant to curb plastic bag usage to reduce litter, especially in the city’s waterways, Boyd, who is sponsoring the resolution, has said.

Tuesday Boyd said the fee would be 4 cents, instead of the 7 cents he first proposed last year. If approved, it would take effect January 2020.

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New Transit Network Would Increase Frequency, Maintain Coverage


The draft of a restructured Memphis bus system with shorter wait times for riders was presented to the Memphis City Council Tuesday.

The plan to revamp the Memphis Area Transit Authority’s (MATA) system is a part of the larger 20-year Memphis 3.0 Comprehensive Plan. Scudder Wagg, a consultant with Jarrett Walker + Associates, the Portland-based group working with the city to develop the new network, said an additional $30 million would be needed to put the network in place.

The proposed network features more weekend service, as well as more frequency on 70 percent of the current routes, increasing the number of people living close to frequent routes by 70,000.

Currently, MATA’s priority is to provide widespread coverage rather than frequent services.

Maintaining most of MATA’s existing coverage, the new network would increase the number of people with access to service by 5 percent and would bring transit service to about 100,000 jobs in the city.

The $30 million would be used in part to purchase additional buses, as well as to make improvements to stations and other infrastructure.

A full report by JWA will be released later this week on the Memphis 3.0 site. Public feedback will be accepted on the drafted network over the next few months. Implementation of the network would take between three and four years, Wagg said.